Category: PowerLinks

Hannan believes the U.K. should take charge of its own economic destiny. “I want people to be making the ethical argument for free trade as the supreme instrument of poverty alleviation, of conflict resolution and of social justice,” Hannan says.

Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s richest countries, flush with oil wealth that attracted immigrants from places as varied as Europe and the Middle East. But after President Hugo Chávez vowed to break the country’s economic elite and redistribute wealth to the poor, the rich and middle class fled to more welcoming countries in droves, creating what demographers describe as Venezuela’s first diaspora.

“The hypocrisy of consecrated men and women who live like the rich wounds the consciences of the faithful and damages the church,” Pope Francis wrote to treasurers of religious orders who were in Rome for a symposium on economics and religious life.

In 2006, when Ed Moy became director of the U.S. Mint, employee morale was incredibly low. The Best Places to Work in Federal Government ranked it number 211 out of 217 Federal agencies. No one wanted to work there, and Ed wanted to change that.

“Crony capitalism” is the idea that politically well-connected owners of productive factors – land, labor, capital, entrepreneurial skill – can use the government’s coercive power to limit competition and increase their return on those factors. More generally, it’s the use of the coercive powers of the state to redistribute resources to specific groups and their associates.

Finding employment is by far the most difficult — and critical — part of the reentry process for returned citizens. But survey data suggests that over half of those released from prison are unemployed for up to a year after being released.

Seeking election, Donald Trump promised his supporters three things: a wall to prevent illegal immigration, protectionist trade reforms and restrictions on political cronyism. But out of these three, only Trump’s anti-cronyism agenda attracts support from across the U.S. political spectrum.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant of Texas blocked a rule by the Obama administration extending mandatory overtime pay, deciding it runs counter to the federal law that governs who is eligible for overtime.

As the second-generation owner of a commercial construction company near Washington, D.C., I have explored the driving force behind my work. I prayed for a vision and landed on this: Use your influence to create environments where people can experience abundant life.

What went wrong? The Bitcoin community has been hampered by a dysfunctional culture that has grown increasingly hostile toward experimentation. That has made it difficult for the Bitcoin network to keep up with changing market demands.

The New Testament gives us some broad principles on how we are supposed to respond to government. For example, Romans 13 elaborates on the origin and institution of government as something that God ordains.

Cash-strapped millennials aren’t the only ones who understand the value of a side hustle. As CNN reports, Republican senator Ben Sasse, who represents Nebraska, spent last Saturday night working as an Uber driver.

Behnam Lalo crunches over jagged glass and tiptoes around a fallen altar, burned Bibles and a decapitated porcelain Virgin Mary. He picks up a cross from a heap of rubble and wipes away ashes with his priest’s robes.

I have had the privilege of being born, raised and shaped by Detroit. Seeing the world through the lens of this beautiful but broken city has framed my view of human flourishing in ways that are truly amazing and counterintuitive

One of the most pervasive themes of the last year is the notion that America’s populist uprising, and the success of President-elect Donald Trump, has in large part been a direct response to the United States’ – and in particular the Republican Party’s – libertarian obsession with “unfettered” free trade.

As anxieties about an economically unstable future grow globally, there is an alternative mindset much closer to home—literally just around the corner, in fact. Instead of relying on federal policy, our local communities are constructing an economy and a way of being that promises more stability and more local control.

The federal program that provides food and other services to low-income mothers, pregnant women and young children, known as WIC, can have a big impact on participants’ health. It has been shown to reduce premature births, increase vaccination rates in children and lower obesity rates. Yet as far as the government is concerned, WIC doesn’t count as health care spending.

Now that Donald Trump has been elected, one of my main goals will be to convince him and his team that it would be wrong to leave government spending on autopilot (and it would be even worse to spend more money and increase the burden of government!).